The UN chief warned that any further escalation of the conflict could result in massive civilian casualties and worsen the already catastrophic humanitarian situation across the country.

“The expansion of the conflict into an area that has served as a place of refuge for a large number of displaced people is alarming,” he said in a statement issued by his Spokesperson’s office.

Mr. Guterres’s appeal follows days of drone strikes on key infrastructure in Port Sudan that have opened a new front in the fighting between forces of the military government and heavily armed paramilitaries.

The city is a main entry point for relief supplies, hosting airports and direct access to the Red Sea. It is also a shelter for hundreds of thousands of displaced people and the seat of government after generals lost control of the capital Khartoum to the Rapid Support Forces (RSF).

Aid flights suspended

In response to the drone attacks, flights of the UN Humanitarian Air Service (UNHAS) to and from Port Sudan have been suspended since 4 May.

The UN World Food Programme (WFP) which manages the airline said that operations will resume as soon as conditions allow. For the moment, amid reported gun and weapons fire overnight, the insecurity has impacted the movement of aid workers into Sudan and across the country.

A country in flux

Drone strikes have also been reported elsewhere in Sudan, including the states of Kassala and River Nile. In Kassala, strikes near the airport displaced about 2,900 people and led to the temporary suspension or relocation of some aid activities, according to the UN aid coordination office, OCHA.

As of Wednesday evening, River Nile State was still without power following a drone strike on the transformer station in Atbara on 25 April. The outage has contributed to growing fuel and bread shortages and long queues at petrol stations and bakeries.

The situation remains dire across Sudan, the UN chief continued, citing intense attacks on critical infrastructure since January that have hampered people’s access to essential services and left them without food, clean water, healthcare and electricity.

“All parties to the conflict must comply with their obligations under international humanitarian law,” Mr. Guterres insisted. “They must not direct attacks against civilians and civilian objects; must take all feasible precautions to avoid, and in any event to minimize, incidental civilian casualties; and must allow and facilitate rapid and unimpeded passage of humanitarian relief for civilians in need.”

Sudan’s war stems from the breakdown in the transition to civilian rule following the overthrow in April 2019 of Omar al-Bashir, who had been president for 30 years.

Mr. Guterres decried a “lack of political will” by the warring parties to engage in constructive dialogue as they pursued their military goals.

“Dialogue is the only way to achieve the peace that the people of Sudan demand,” the Secretary-General insisted.

A hunger catastrophe

The turmoil caused by relentless heavy fighting across Sudan has reportedly killed more than 18,800 civilians and injured tens of thousands more. UN aid agencies say that the country’s people are in the grip of the largest hunger catastrophe on the planet.

Today, more than half of Sudan’s population – 30.4 million people – need humanitarian assistance, including more than 15 million children. They lack access to food, water, shelter, electricity, education and healthcare, aid veterans have warned repeatedly.

“Across Sudan, 25 million people face acute hunger,” WFP spokesperson Leni Kinzli told UN News. “And people are displaced across the country, nearly 13 million people forced from their homes. We are seeing waves of displacement in North Darfur, where around 450,000 people have fled horrific levels of violence.”

Reaching those in need

Despite the dangers, UN agencies and partners are doing everything they can to reach the most vulnerable uprooted by intensifying attacks on government-controlled El Fasher town and Zamzam displacement camp.

“We’ve distributed assistance food assistance and emergency food packages to 335,000 people who recently fled that violence in and around El Fasher,” Ms. Kinzli explained. “We are also ramping up assistance in Khartoum, aiming to support one million people across the coming month.”

Distributions are ongoing in Jabalia, in the South of Khartoum, which is one of the risk of famine areas, as well as the central Khartoum neighbourhood of Burri, “where we finally reached the centre of the city…just last week”, the WFP officer noted.

To reach 21 million people in desperate need this year the UN needs $4.2 billion which is only seven per cent funded.

And over the next six months, WFP requires around $700 million to ramp up assistance and expand assistance to seven million people per month. 

According to the agency, heavily armed personnel entered the schools in Shu’fat refugee camp on Thursday while classes were in session, forcing more than 550 Palestinian girls and boys – some as young as six – out of their classrooms.

One UNRWA staff member was detained, and all of the agency-run schools in East Jerusalem were subsequently evacuated as a precaution.

‘Assault on children’

“This is an assault on children. An assault on education,” UNRWA Commissioner-General Philippe Lazzarini said in a statement.

“Storming schools and forcing them shut is a blatant disregard of international law.”

He added that by enforcing the closure orders issued against UNRWA schools in April, Israeli authorities are denying Palestinian children their basic right to learn.

“These schools are inviolable premises of the United Nations. UNRWA schools must continue to be open to safeguard an entire generation of children,” Mr. Lazzarini said.

Immediate risk

Roland Friedrich, Director for UNRWA Affairs in the West Bank, warned the Palestine refugee children are at an “immediate risk” of losing their access to education.

“Israel’s actions today are a grave violation of its obligations as a UN Member State under international law,” he said in a social media post.

He called on the international community to uphold UNRWA’s mandate and humanitarian space in the West Bank.

Gaza: Water, sanitation crisis deepens

Meanwhile, the humanitarian crisis in Gaza continues unabated, with more than three-quarters of households reporting reduced access to water, ten weeks into Israel’s aid blockade.

A survey conducted by humanitarians in April found that 90 per cent of families faced critical water shortages, often having to choose between basic hygiene and cooking. They also reported an increase in reliance on private vendors for drinking water – with public infrastructure in ruins.

Fuel shortages and limited access to repair equipment, have further complicated the situation. The southern Gaza desalination plant remains offline due to a severed power line, while key water pipes damaged earlier this year have yet to be repaired.

Overflowing waste and rodent infestation

The UN aid coordination office, OCHA, also reported widespread sanitation issues, including a lack of functioning latrines, soap shortages and sewage overflows in hard-hit areas like Jabalia and Nazla.

Overcrowded shelters are facing rodent and insect infestations, further raising fears of disease outbreaks amid strained medical services, OCHA said, warning of a looming public health disaster if the crisis continues unchecked.